As CJ and his team entered the dungeon, little did they know they were being watched. In the eight bay of the loading dock sat a brown furred coyote. It licked its left front paw before dragging it over its ear and snout. Its ears perked up just before turning its lupine head slightly to the left.

Cascading down an exposed I-beam’s interior was a river of spiders of all species. They flowed over iron rivets and the remnants of construction welding to pool together into one large black chitinous arachnid that hung ten feet above the coyote.

“Did they enter another dungeon so soon?” asked the spider but the coyote just nodded, “It seems too soon. Don’t these mortals need rest?”

“He’s uniquely driven. I’m not sure what motivates this one. The stars are filled with uncertainty.” Began the coyote as it turned fully toward its spindly companion, “The rest of the humans are still cowering behind their walls as the corruption claims more and more of the land.”

“My continent housed some of the more aggressive species still roaming the earth. Once the mana mutations began, they made short work of the local human defenders.” Clacked the mandibles of the spider, “How fares your tribe Coyote?”

“Anansi, once again you don’t listen. I mentioned they were cowering already. If something is not done soon the ancient enemy will wake from its slumber and the humans will stand no chance.”

“But they are still alive. That is my point. If they still exist than the Harbinger may yet reach them.” Explained Anansi as it began to disperse into smaller batches of spiders. “I will step in should he successfully clear this dungeon. Time is not on our side.”

The world dissolved into a fresh kaleidoscope of colors around CJ. He felt a strange pull toward the energies that made up the pattern. Almost as if he could reach out and take hold of it. Then he popped out next to Monty, Elena, and Jenn. They were standing in the center of a toll booth lane. In front of and behind them were cars lined up bumper to bumper. Eight lanes of highway going east and west. The honking of horns permeated the soundscape. Directly ahead of them was a large suspension bridge. It was funneling the traffic between upper and lower levels. There was a plaque hanging from the toll booth that read; Bayonne bound NY 440.

“Is this the Bayonne bridge? Jersey bound? How did we get across the river?” asked Jenn, her blonde hair flipping left to right with every high speed twist of her neck as she tried to get her bearings.

“Can’t be.” Said CJ as he checked the ammo in his revolver. Spinning the cylinder before flicking it shut. “The Bayonne doesn’t have two levels. This bridge has an upper and lower level.”

“Shit. My dad has gone grey in the chat. Doesn’t look like we can communicate to the outside from a dungeon.”

“Good to know.”

CJ took a second to change his title to Dungeon Diver. He assumed the bonus to finding hidden details might come in handy. He stepped around the sedan in front of him as he ventured forward.

“Alright the goal here is to reach the other side of the bridge. Let’s get going. I don’t know about you but one class point sounds rather good for doing the bare minimum. We should take the win.”

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“What about the Legendary item? They don’t grow on trees you know,” injected Monty as he hopped up on the trunk of the next car in line. “If we don’t get it someone else will.”

“Sounds like a lot of work and I’d really like to get back to town. I was hoping we could just sprint it and avoid the whole stabilization aspect. Any of you a bridge engineer?” CJ asked.

“Hey! Get off my car!” clucked a chicken man hybrid driving the car Monty was standing on.

“My bad.” Replied Monty before hopping back down.

New Message from Psycho: Chicken people?

New Message from Party Leader CJ: Chicken people.

New Message from Elena: Can we just get on with this?

CJ and the others opted for the upper level. They passed dump trucks, moving vans, and convertibles. Some even had yellow fluffy chicks in the backseats chirping away. Luckily, it was a bright sunny day on the Bayonne bridge. At the top of the incline, they noticed the actual problem.

There were wasps dive bombing some chicken cops. They weren’t ordinary wasps of course. They would stand at least three feet tall on the ground. Child sized wasps. The chicken cops were taking pot shots at them from behind a yellow and black stripped barricade. They even had a black swat van parked across two lanes of traffic. Every now and then a new wasp would pop up from the crack between the east and west bound sections of the bridge.

“This looks like a full cluster fuck to me.”

“Don’t you mean fuster cluck?” chuckled Jenn before getting groans from the chicken man driver of a nearby cement mixer.

“Everyone’s a critic.”

“Let’s find out what’s going on,” said CJ before splitting the group to either side of the lane they were currently in. “Get up to the cops and make our way past them.”

The team past a good fifty more vehicles before finally being addressed by one of the chicken men in uniform.

“Please step back. We’re doing our best to clear the pests, you’ll be on your way soon.”

CJ looked past the bored officer to see that not only have they shot down a dozen or more of the wasps, but several officers were also down and being dragged back to the barricade. Between the corpses and the other side of the bridge was a gaping chasm. It was like someone plucked a section of the bridge right out. Then CJ swore audibly. He looked up to see a crane was holding up the section for both east and west bound lanes.

Moreover, the upper bridge and lower bridge sections had been lifted out. An impossible feat if it wasn’t a dungeon. There was just air in-between the two sections of bridge. The lower section, which should have been below CJ and his team, was hovering forty feet above him. There was nothing connecting the top and bottom parts. It just shouldn’t be.

“That’s some impossible dungeon fuckery right there.”

“Don’t you mean—”

“No Jenn. Don’t you dare say it.”

New Message from Elena: So, you’re telling me we have to get that section to drop back down?

New Message from Party Leader CJ: It’s worse than that. I’m betting we have to work with the cops, do whatever it is their dumb asses need, to get the crane operator on the opposite side to drop the middle section or we can’t get across.

“Officer, you sure there’s nothing we can do to help out here?” asked Elena before the bridge bucked beneath their feet.

“Everyone hang on. It’s an earthquake!” yelled a chicken man wearing a police issue hat and parka.

The bridge swayed side to side from the suspension cables. An entire squad car fell through the gap in bridge past the lower level and into the bay below. What stood out to CJ was the other side of the bridge was swaying in the opposite direction. He heard the twanging of metal cabling as the lateral movement began to exceed tolerance levels.

Of course, that’s when the wasps decided to make another appearance. Ten of the buggers flew up through the breach and began targeting chicken cops. Monty launched himself off the barricade toward one of the wasps. To the wasp’s credit, it tilted its head in surprise as the rabbit flying round house kicked it in the skull. It careened off the side of the bridge in an uncontrolled tailspin.

New Message from Party Leader CJ: Engage.